While students slowly trickled back onto campus this weekend, the BassPack, State’s bass fishing club, held its second annual N.C. State Open, the team’s invitational tournament hosted on Lake Norman. Wake Forest, UNC-Charlotte, Clemson and Virginia Tech sent at least two boats to the event.

The club, which has produced two National Championship-winning teams in three years, continued its successful streak. A team consisting of Chris Wood and Stephen Lasher took first place and Ethan Cox and Clint Benbow took second.

Wood, a senior in textile technology who organized the event, said the team wants to move the event closer in the future so fewer members are constrained by travel.

“I think next year we’re going to try and bring it back to Raleigh so more of our guys will be able to be there,” Wood said.

Wood was on the top-finishing team for the second straight year. He said the home tournament provided some of the club’s newer members with a chance to get their feet wet.

“It’s one of the only chances for some of the guys to get out and compete against other teams,” Wood said. “They usually only participate in club tournaments. Usually only the top so many guys get to go and face off around the country.”

One of the members facing outside competition for the first time was Benbow, who lives five minutes away from the Lake and spent much of the week “pre-fishing,” or testing out the lake and honing strategies. He said he and Cox were confident going into the tournament but found themselves in fourth place after the first day.

“We changed our game plan and went to some different spots on the second day and came out in second place,” Benbow said.

Benbow, like many others on the team, cited the BassPack as one of the main reasons he chose to come to State.

“[This tournament] was really special for me because I’ve been wanting to do this for a while,” Benbow said.

Even though they finished well in their first competitive tournament, Benbow and Cox had higher expectations.

“We wish we’d gotten first,” Benbow laughed.

Most of the team members will turn their focus on the Tobacco Road Tournament April 3, which features only North Carolina teams competing on Lake Johnson in Raleigh. But Ben Dziwulski, a sophomore in agricultural business management, and teammate Kevin Beverley, a junior in biological engineering, have bigger fish to try.

The duo spent spring break in Knoxville, TN preparing for the 2010 FLW College Fishing National Championship April 9-12, where they will compete for $100,000, a national title, and a spot in the Forrest Wood Cup, where they have a chance to win a million dollar purse.

They totaled 96 hours on the water in nine days and spent a good amount of money on gas. But according to Dzwulski, it was exactly how they wanted to spend their long reprieve and they had “nothing better to do.”

“We were learning the lake, figuring out what the fish will be biting on and what we’re going to have to do to catch them in April,” Dziwulski said. “This would be my first national championship and winning it would be huge.”

The regional tournament at which Dziwulski and Beverley qualified for Nationals took place at Lake Norman last year. He said members are trying to arrange to have the tournament moved to Jordan Lake and have the weigh-in on the Brickyard so more State fans can take part.

“That will really get everyone involved and interested,” Dzwulski said. “It’s just a matter of qualifying for it again.”